"Region coding is a tool" - what a load of crap. Over the last few days I have been trying to go back and collect some of the movies that I watched back in college, one of which was the move "Johnny Got His Gun". So I do a search for this movie, and apparently it is out of print in the US, but I can buy the region 2 and region 4 versions, which means that I need to buy an imported DVD player, or I can just not watch the movie. This is a 37 year old movie that was once available in the US, the argument about keeping the rest of the world from just does not hold. You write like this is a good thing, and the Blu fans support it by marking you up.
Blu-Ray is about controlling the movie experience, region encoding, more DRM, and keeping the price artifically high to limit it to those with a higher income.
And for those asking why DRM is bad, all I need to say is - WOW! How many articles have been written on the non-HD version of this site about DRM-free MP3 files on iTunes? How many complaints about the false, but widely circulated DRM restrictions built into Vista? It seems like the same people that complain about DRM in their music and in an OS that they do not use, and have no intention to use (unless they pirate it), are the ones saying that DRM is OK on their Blu-Ray disk. I have a couple hundred movies ripped onto an external 750GB hard drives so that I can easily watch my movies and protect them from scratches. Without the cracked DRM on DVDs, and because the additional DRM on Blu disks, I would not be able to do this. My BDP-S301 is downstairs, so I am limited to watching my Blu disks there, and do not have the networked convienence like I do with my standard DVDs.
I cannot believe how people are so in love with the BDA, that they would take any talking point they are fed and spin it into a great thing. I have both, and preferr HD DVD, but if the same restrictions were on HD DVD, I would think of it as the "necessary" (necessary for a movie/HD lover) evil as I do my Blu-ray player.
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@JimC
"Region coding is a tool" - what a load of crap. Over the last few days I have been trying to go back and collect some of the movies that I watched back in college, one of which was the move "Johnny Got His Gun". So I do a search for this movie, and apparently it is out of print in the US, but I can buy the region 2 and region 4 versions, which means that I need to buy an imported DVD player, or I can just not watch the movie. This is a 37 year old movie that was once available in the US, the argument about keeping the rest of the world from just does not hold. You write like this is a good thing, and the Blu fans support it by marking you up.
Blu-Ray is about controlling the movie experience, region encoding, more DRM, and keeping the price artifically high to limit it to those with a higher income.
And for those asking why DRM is bad, all I need to say is - WOW! How many articles have been written on the non-HD version of this site about DRM-free MP3 files on iTunes? How many complaints about the false, but widely circulated DRM restrictions built into Vista? It seems like the same people that complain about DRM in their music and in an OS that they do not use, and have no intention to use (unless they pirate it), are the ones saying that DRM is OK on their Blu-Ray disk. I have a couple hundred movies ripped onto an external 750GB hard drives so that I can easily watch my movies and protect them from scratches. Without the cracked DRM on DVDs, and because the additional DRM on Blu disks, I would not be able to do this. My BDP-S301 is downstairs, so I am limited to watching my Blu disks there, and do not have the networked convienence like I do with my standard DVDs.
I cannot believe how people are so in love with the BDA, that they would take any talking point they are fed and spin it into a great thing. I have both, and preferr HD DVD, but if the same restrictions were on HD DVD, I would think of it as the "necessary" (necessary for a movie/HD lover) evil as I do my Blu-ray player.